Bengaluru (PTI): JD(S) leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy on Friday filed his nomination for the November 13 Assembly by-polls from Channapatna, a seat vacated by his father and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy after being elected to Lok Sabha, amid a show of strength along with alliance partner BJP.
The actor-turned-politician and NDA nominee was accompanied by wife Revathi, father Kumaraswamy, and BJP leaders -- former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Shivamogga MP B Y Raghavendra.
Earlier, the 36-year-old along with family members including his grandfather -- JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda -- visited a temple here.
After offering prayers at Kengal Anjaneya Swamy temple at Channapatna in the neighbouring Ramanagara district later, he held a massive road show accompanied by Kumaraswamy, Leader of Opposition in Assembly R Ashoka (BJP), Sadananda Gowda, Raghavendra, Mysuru BJP MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, along with a host of BJP and JD(S) leaders, for which a large number of party workers and supporters had turned up.
Ahead of filing his papers, the JD(S) youth wing president said fielding him as the candidate was an "unexpected development" for him, but leaders and workers of BJP and JD(S) showed confidence in him and have chosen him.
"The leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the relationship that Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy have developed with the people of the region over the years and the work they have done here will bless me," Nikhil said.
Kumaraswamy said: "This is not Nikhil Kumaraswamy's election. The Congress that is trying to disturb things in the country...when Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister... BJP-JD(S) by winning all the three segments in Karnataka, will put an end to the Congress' politics of conspiracy."
If any development has happened in Channapatna it was during the tenure of BJP and JD(S) in power, the Union Minister said, as he hit out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar questioning as to what they have done for the constituency "other than making speeches."
Nikhil is pitted against Congress' C P Yogeeshwara, a five-time Channapatna MLA, former Minister and a political heavyweight in the constituency, who switched sides from the BJP on Monday.
Kumaraswamy had won the Channapatna seat in the 2023 Assembly elections polling 96,592 votes against Yogeeshwara (then in BJP), who got 80,677 votes.
Nikhil's mother Anitha Kumaraswamy, a former MLA, had unsuccessfully contested from the seat in 2013 when she lost to Yogeeshwara.
With Yogeeshwara joining Congress to contest the Channapatna bypoll, pressure was mounting on Kumaraswamy from party workers and leaders to field Nikhil.
It is said that Kumaraswamy was in a dilemma, as Nikhil was not keen on contesting but buckled under pressure from party workers. Nikhil had said he was in favour of the party fielding a local JD(S) worker or a leader as candidate.
This is the third electoral battle for Nikhil. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2023 Assembly from Ramanagara, which had propelled Deve Gowda to the post of Chief Minister, and was also represented by both his parents.
He had a disastrous electoral debut when he lost to BJP-backed independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 polls.
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Bengaluru(PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said there is nothing wrong if party national President Mallikarjun Kharge wants to return to state politics.
He was responding to a question from reporters on Kharge's remarks, recalling how he lost the Chief Minister's post to S M Krishna after the 1999 Karnataka Assembly polls. Kharge's remarks added to the speculations of leadership change in Congress and about his return to state politics.
Senior Congress leader Parameshwara also said that wrongly interpreting Kharge is also not correct.
Kharge's statement seems to have rekindled the debate on 'Dalit CM' within the party. The AICC President, who hails from Karnataka, belongs to a Scheduled Caste.
Making a Dalit the CM is a hotly debated matter within the Congress party, the issue on which senior leaders and Ministers Parameshwara and H C Mahadevappa have openly spoken in the past. Both belong to Scheduled Castes.
These comments have come amid speculations within the state's political circles, especially within the ruling Congress, for some time now about the Chief Minister change later this year, citing a rumoured power-sharing agreement involving incumbent Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar.
"Kharge is a senior leader not only in our party, but in national politics, making comments on him is not right. Kharge is competent to hold all kinds of positions; he has experience, and he has been in politics for about 50 years. If he says something, interpreting it wrongly is not correct," Parameshwara told reporters in response to a question.
Asked about some speaking about his return to state politics, he said, "There is nothing wrong in it. He is holding the decisive position in our party. He is the one who decides as to who should be the Chief Minister, being the AICC President. So, in case he wants to come back to state politics, no one should interpret it wrong."
Speaking at an event in Vijayapura on Sunday, Kharge had recalled about him missing the Chief Ministerial post, when Congress came to power in 1999.
"As CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leader I tried to bring the party to power (ahead of 1999 polls), the party formed the government and S M Krishna became the Chief Minister. He had come (as KPCC President) four months ahead (of polls)....all my service was washed down the river. I feel that -- I toiled for five years, but the person who came four months ago was made the CM," the Congress chief had said.
"What I'm trying to say is, we may face difficulties, but we must continue to work without greed in mind. If you are greedy, you won't get anything, also you won't be able to do what's in your mind. Passing through all these things, from being a block president, I have now become AICC President. I did not go behind positions," he further said.
Mahadevappa too, reacting to Kharge's statement on Monday had said, Kharge is one of the senior leaders in the country and he has all the required qualities to occupy any constitutional post, and our wish is that he should get an opportunity, whenever there is one.
Naming Dalit leaders in Congress who have occupied the CM post in other states like -- Damodaram Sanjivayya, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jagannath Pahadia and Ram Sundar Das, he said, "When time comes the party will take a decision and everyone will abide by it."
However, trying to downplay speculations, Kharge's son and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday said his father was merely sharing the path he had walked in his political career -- both ups and downs -- and that his speech should be seen in entirety not selectively. He has also made it clear that he has no regrets.
"From the blessings of everyone, the people of Kalaburagi and Karnataka, he is in the post that was once occupied by Subhas Chandra Bose and Gandhiji. Whatever he has decided on his political future, he will decide himself. He has earned that respect and reputation. He has a good relationship with the high command. Whatever he decides, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will automatically accept it," he said.